a bleeding purple utah jazz blog

Another Day, More Brotherly Love

Enes Kanter came over while Big Al was talking to the media and stood sort of behind Al. One of the reporters then asked Al about Enes (saying that Enes wanted to know what Big Al thought of him), and Al didn’t notice Enes standing there til he was halfway through answering the question.

**Al Jefferson on Enes Kanter: When I first met Big Turkey, I knew he was a very talented player. The only thing he needed was experience and confidence.

[At this point, he notices Kanter.]

“Awww man. I can’t cuss on camera.” Al then continues:

Only thing I don’t like about him, he stole my move last night and made it look a little better than I do. He’s a very talented player. (3)

(This episode reminds me of the time Matt Harpring was in the NBA TV studio interviewing AK. AK secretly kept the headphones on after they were done talking to see what Matt was saying about him while giggling to himself. 3:50 mark here.)

**Alec Burks: I’m just playing great defense, learning from great defensive players on my team like Raja and Josh Howard. They’re defensive stoppers, so I can learn from them. That’s why I feel like I’m getting better every day on the defensive end. (2)

**Jamaal Tinsley: I have two guys playing in front of me. I always want to see them do good, and whatever I can do to help them, that’s what a good teammate for. (2)

**Gordon Hayward on Tinsley: He’s definitely brought some leadership to the team. Even when he wasn’t playing that much, his voice was always heard. He always had insightful stuff to say to us and make sure that we were confident and we weren’t getting down on ourselves…he’s had a couple moves that I remember watching when he was a Pacer, so it’s been exciting. (3)

**Tinsley on Derrick Favors: He just a quiet, humble kid…his demeanor is just quiet. Willing to work, just a good people person. He barely speak to us, so [don’t think] it’s just y’all. We try to get him to talk on defense; he’s doing that now. He’s just a good person to be around. (2)

**Earl Watson on the LAL game: [C.J.] frustrated [Kobe] to the point where I could hear Kobe on the bench from halfcourt yelling at the referee that C.J. was too physical and telling the referee to get C.J. off of him or he has to get him off with an elbow.* And that’s when you know, as a defender, you have become that defender that no one wants to play against ’cause you get into their mind, and mentally it just breaks them down. (1)

* UDQM!!!!

**Watson: [Kanter] have a different way of pump-faking guys in the paint, kind of similar to Al Jefferson but his up-and-under move was amazing [against LAL]…and Derrick Favors to me…is going to be a ten-year NBA All-Star. He is unbelievable. His maturity and his poise for his age in the post and his skill is unlimited, and once he hit his stride, it’s gonna be unstoppable. (1)